NIH T32 proposal with @joannamasel.bsky.social and @wheelerlab.org to renew the Computational and Mathematical Modeling in Biological Systems program for PhD students is funded, starting July 1! I look forward to supporting the next generation of quantitative biology researchers!
cmmbs.arizona.edu
Meltdown only becomes more important when beneficial mutations are not so rare compared to deleterious mutations. So population genetics should never ignore beneficials over long timescales: either they are common, or their limiting nature is critical. 5/5
New beneficial mutations are eventually needed not only to counter environmental change, but also to compensate for fixed deleterious mutations. Mutational drought exceeds mutational meltdown even in the conservative case where the latter kind of fitness loss exceeds the former. 4/5
These are both long-term dangers. A shortage of standing genetic variation is more urgent than a shortage of new beneficial mutations, and a rise in inbreeding depression is more urgent than deleterious fixations. 3/5